I’m on the fence about New Year’s resolutions. I understand the appeal—new year, new me—but I also tend to think longer-term. Yearly goals don’t always work for me. I’d love to retire early, to become an expert in X topic, to be my own boss one day. I’m not going to check them off my list this year, but that doesn’t mean I’ve failed. I’m working towards them every day.

I’m also of the mind that January 1 is an arbitrary date that’s fairly meaningless as a catalyst for change. If you want to change something, then change it. Just start.

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That’s become something of a mantra for me in 2017: Just start. The past few months have been filled with changes for me, and concrete decision-making, about my finances and otherwise. That is something I hope to continue in the new year, and hopefully long after.

But of course, that’s pretty vague, and research does indicate that if you have goals and know why they are meaningful to you, you’re more likely to accomplish them. There are some things I could cross off on my list. The first is to make a plan to *finally* get my liquid savings to the standard “emergency fund”-level of 3 to 6 months of expenses. Another is to be more mindful of my spending to be less wasteful (I currently use Digit to figure out where my money is going...if you have other suggestions, let me know). And, inspired by Chuck Grassley, I will try to spend less on women and booze. I have other, non-financial goals as well, like reading two non-work related books per month, which I did this year and which immeasurably enriched my life. But these are things I’d like to continue doing well beyond December 31, 2018.

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What about you? Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Do you stick to your goals? What would you like to accomplish in 2018, financially or otherwise? Let us know in the comments.